myers



D.MYER S.

Car Brake.

Patented Dec. 4, 1866.

Wiinessea; 2' MW 14% N. PETERS. PHOTO-LHHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. Dv CQuinn grates iQuMutQffirr.

IMPROVEMENT m CAB rams,

SPECIFICATION.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, DAVID MYERS, of Qhicagd, in the county of Cook, andState of Illinois, have invented,

a new and useful Improvement in Car Brakes; and I'do hereby declare andmake knownthat the following is at full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and theletters and figures marked thereon, which form part of thisspecification. 7

,My invention consists in a novel arrangement of mechanical devices tobe attached beneath each of the cars composing a train, and connected bya suitable cord to the ordinary bell-cord running through the traintotho engine, wherein a spring is so applied that it may be wound up toany desired degree of tension, and uponbeing released by the pullin-gupon the bell-cord by the engineer, itsi contractile power will operateto apply the brakes;

and whereby, by givingasecond pull upon the bell-cord, the engineer may,in like manner, releasethe subsidiary tension which holds the brakesupon the wheels, and thus open the brakes wheu desiredc To enable thoseskilled in the' art to understand how to construct and usenTy invention,I willproceed to. describe the same with particularity, making referencein so doing to the aforesaid drawings, in which- Figure l'representsabottom view of a car with my invention attached.

Figure 2, a side elevation of the same.

Figure 3 is a top view of my said in'vefitio'n.

Figure 4 is'a side view of the same; and

Figure 5 represents a top and side view'of the head of the pawl, P.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the sameparts of 'my invention.

X represents a suitable case enclosing the operating parts of myinvention, and attached transversely beneath the car, as shown. orrepresents a vertical shafthavi'ng bearings in the top and bottomof thecase, X, as shown, having attached thereto within the case a horizontalcam or wheel, 0, and havinghpon its lower end, exterior to the casing, abox, with open sides, in which are supported two small shives, h,asshown, between which passes a cord or chain, 0, which is connectedwith'the brake-rod and levers, asclearlyshown in fig. 1*. :F representsthe spring or springs whose contractile force operating upon the cam, C,appliesthe brakes, toono end of which a cord or chain, D, is attached,which passes around a shive, E, and goes to be secured to;the camwheel,C, at C, passing around a series of pins forming a cam for the chain onthe cam-wheeL'C, as clearly shown in fig. 3, while another cord. orchain, 01, passes from the other end of the spring arounda verticalshaft, T, upon which is fixed a ratchet-wheel," H, as shown. Irepresentsa rod extending, from one end of: the car to the said ratchet-wheel,being provided with a hook on the cnd, as shown at the wheel H, and'avertical shaftor crank-lever at the other erld, marked L, which isattached to the end of the 'car or the platform thereof. The spring, J,is so arranged as to hold the hook or rod, I, against thei'ntchet-wheel, H, and the spring, K, draws the rod and hook back in alongitudinal direction from the'te eth of the ratchet-wheel, H, when.moved towards the endof the car, as hereinafter specified. Prepresents apawl which holds into. the teeth of the ratchet-wheel,

H, and prevents it from revolving in the wrong direction when thespring, F, is wound up. The pawl isheld down upon the wheel, H, by meansof a spring, Q. at its opposite end. B represents a lever or stop, anend of which enters a notch, c, uponthe fan of the wheel C,-and preventsthe tension of the spring from revolving the cam-wheel Caud shaft m,until said lever, B, is withdrawn, as hereinafter specified.- Theopposite end of said lever, B, is provided with a slot, and connected,by means of a pin passing through saidslot, with an elboirlever,'A,pivoted at b, to one arm of which a cord, at, is attached, which goes upand is fastened to the bell-cord table manner, so that pulling upon saidbell-cord, or upon the cord 41, will withdraw the lever B from in anysun the notch c and apply the brakes. To the upper part of theelbow-lever, A, is pivoted an arm, R, which lies under the pawl, P, andis provided with a shoulder at l,'as shown. The outer end of thearmg'Rfis supported upon the end of a spring, S, which passes looselybetween the pins 8 s, as shown in fig, 4, the opposite end of saidspring being fastened to the lever B, said lever having a longitudinalmotion, but prevented from any lateralless diameter, marked N, as seenin fig. 4, and the pawl-head is jointed, asshown in fig. 5, sothat whenthrown or pushed from the wheel H by the arm R, as hereinafterdescribed, the pointt is folded back inwards towards the wheel, bringinga projecting bearing, 11., in contact with the smooth periphery, N, andallowing the said shaft,-

movement by the stops 1), arranged as shown. The ratchet-whecl, H, has asmooth face underthe teeth,of a.

T, of wheel H, upon which the cord 01 is wound, to revolve until all thetension is taken ofi from spring F, so

that the point of the pawl will not press upon the teeth of theratchet-wheel H. a

Having described the construction of my invention, I will how. describeits operation. The spring F is drawn to;the required degree of tensionby giving an oscillating or reciprocating motion to the crank L, wherebythe hook upon the end of the rod I is caused to turn the ratchet-wheel Hand its shaft, the pawl P holding thewheel in place while the hook ismoved back to repeat the operation, the chain d being thus wound uponthe. shaft T, effecting the purpose desired. W'henthe apparatus is thusarranged, the arm R is low enough to slideunder the pawlP withoutbringing the offset or shoulder Z against said pawl. The apparatus beingin readiness,

the engineer, desiring to stop the train, pulls upon the bell-cord, towhich the cord (1 is attached, and thus pulls upon the elbow-lever A,which has the effect to withdraw the bar B from the recess, 0, in thecam O, and at the.-

same time to thrust the'arm Rforward beneath the pawl P, sliding itsouter end upwards on its elastic support S.

By the withdrawal of the bar B from the recess, a, in the cam C, thespring F, acting upon thechain D, revolvessaid cam and its shaft, m, andthe block M, thereby taking up and shortening the cord or chain-e, andapplying the brakes as desired, while the shives h permit the chain 0 toslide so as to equaliz the pressure of the brakes upon both trucks. Fromthe configuration of the said cam, O, and its revolution, as aforesaid,it forces the bar ]3 back towa d -the arm A, the slot in the end thereofallowing said movement, the effect of which is to thrust the spring Sback far enough to bring the shoulder l above the lower, side of thepawl P, so that the engineer by giving a second pull upon the bell-cordcan, by the movement of the arm R and shoulder Z against the pawl P,

force, said pawl away from the ratchet-wheel H, the tooth t turningback, as aforesaid, and thus turn off the tension from the spring F,releasing the brakes as desired, when the spring G brings the cam 0 backto its place, and the spring F may againbe wound up to be ready foranother operation. 4 I Having described the construction and operationof my invention, I will now specify what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent: p

i 1. I claim the combination of the cam-wheel C, shaft m, chain D, andspring or springs F, arranged and operating substantially as and for thepurpose specified and shown.

2. I claim, in combination with cam-wheel O and shaft 1):, the box M andshives h, arranged substantially in the manner and for the purposes setforth.

3. I claim, in combination with cam-wheel 0, provided with a. recess, 0,the bar B and elbow-lever A, arranged and operating as described, andfor the purposes specified.

4. I claim providing the ratchet-wheel H with the smooth periphery orflange N, when arranged in combination with the projection u upon thepoint t of the pawl P, and operating substantially as described.

5. I claim thearrangement of the arm R, provided with a-shoulder, asdescribed, with the elbow-lever A and pawl 1, operating substantially inthe manner and for'the purposes specified. l

6.1 claim,'in combination with said bar R, the arrangement-of themovable elastic support or spring, S, operating substantially as and forthe purposes herein shown and described.

I D. MYERS.

Witnesses: I

W. E. MAnRs, Q Geo. L. WATERMAN.

